The American Psychiatric Association manual is the bible of psychiatry. And next year one diagnosis, Asperger's syndrome, will not be in it.

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Families worry that change could cost Asperger's syndrome patients services and their sense of identity.

A special program at Brookline High School teaches students with Asperger's syndrome away from the mainstream, in small classes.

Joe Foley, 16, attends the class. Like many with Asperger's syndrome, he's intensely involved in one subject. In his case, it's travel. But he works hard in school.

"It's grade-level work, but there's more attention because it's a smaller class and it's less overwhelming," said Foley.

Foley was diagnosed at age six with Asperger's, a high-functioning form of autism.

It's been part of the Diagnostic and Statistical manual for Mental Disorders for over 20 years. But new revisions will eliminate it -- lumping Asperger's patients together under Autism Spectrum Disorder.

"It's over-diagnosed. People choose to say Asperger's rather than autistic. But all of the research would say there's no difference between Asperger's and high-functioning autism," said Dr. Sarah Spence, a child neurologist at Children's Hospital.

But for those with loved ones struggling with Asperger's syndrome, concern is setting in that the elimination of the diagnosis will leave many without help and with less educational support.

"The concern is that some children who have been previously diagnosed with Asperger's and recognized as autistic will get some other diagnosis. And they are bound to come with a lower level of services than an autism diagnosis provides," said Lucy Berrington, Joe's mother.

The American Psychiatric Association said most people diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome will continue to qualify for help under the Autism Spectrum Disorder umbrella.

But the Asperger's community, including clinicians, worry there's more at stake than just a label. They say Asperger's is an identity, one the larger community has only recently come to understand.

"I think it's become less stigmatized. So there's been a lot of work to make it understandable to the public, to employers who have some sense of what it means and would give someone a chance," said Dr. Scott McLeod, an Asperger's specialist at Mass General. "Losing that label will be disempowering for them."

The American Psychiatric Association said the main reason for the change was to help more accurately and consistently diagnose children with autism across the spectrum.